The pull of returning home to the Czech Republic did not prove as strong as Martin Straka’s desire to continue his career on Broadway.
The Post has learned that the 34-year-old left winger whom Tom Renney two weeks ago cited as the epitome of what the Rangers want to be, has signed a one-year contract extension through 2007-08 worth $3.3 million. Straka is earning - and that is the operative word - $3.1 million this season.

While no one in the Flames’ dressing room needs to be told of the role Langkow has played in the Flames resurgence, apparently the rest of the hockey world could use a crash course on his brilliance.
Considered a mere beneficiary of Jarome Iginla’s fine work, Langkow has quietly posted numbers worthy of all-star consideration while maintaining a defensive diligence few NHLers can match.

The Ducks turned 1,000 regular-season games old Tuesday looking like a group of players 1,000 regular-season years old.
They were aged like beef and tenderized, grilled and sliced up the same way. They might as well have been corpses, and you can’t get any older than that.
A stride late and a shift short, the Ducks lost to less-than-average St. Louis, 6-2, in a game that traveled as one-way as the 405 South does. This one was so bad the NHL could ask the Ducks to play their first 999 games over again just to prove they belong.
A one-grand night produced one ghastly game.

Instead of complaining about getting just one player in the NHL All-Star Game, maybe the Predators should be celebrating.
This virtual oversight (Kimmo Timonen is in, but where are the other Preds?) adds fuel to the motivational fire that feeds this team. There is a perception that the rest of the NHL looks down its nose at Nashville.
Beware a Predator scorned.
Never mind that Nashville has the most league wins so far this season. Elsewhere, the Preds are seen as a collection of good players who figured out a way to win close games.
It comes with the turf. When you’re in a non-traditional market and yet to get past the first round of the playoffs, respect is slow to arrive

Wild coach Jacques Lemaire, who only played Gaborik an average of 18:26 a game last season, which irked the native of Slovakia, is now playing him an average of 20:48 a game.
Lemaire didn’t trust Gaborik, who gets power-play time, to kill penalties last season. He does now.
But how good Gaborik becomes is all up to him, according to Lemaire, maybe one of the best two-way centres in NHL history—a guy who had to cover up the defensive sins of Guy Lafleur and fellow linemate Steve Shutt.
Lemaire loves Gaborik’s home-run ability. But, again, can he stay in one piece and will he ever be as good as, say, fellow Slovakian winger Marian Hossa?

Ask any Hollywood star who has worn a bad outfit to an awards show: it can take a long time to live down a fashion mistake. This week, the NHL will take a walk down the runway with its new collection, and if the early buzz is any indication, it will fall flat on its face….
The main complaint from players who have tried the new uniforms? They’re too constrictive, and don’t fit larger players well at all. Another gripe being voiced quietly is how different the new jerseys look—a radical departure from the traditional sweater, which has been largely unchanged over the years. In the NHL, where the “mirror test” matters for everything from helmets to skates, the new jerseys fail badly.

THE QUESTION: 1. A year and a half now since the strike, how has your attitude toward the Flyers and the NHL changed, if at all?
2. What’s your opinion on the current makeup of the schedule, which promotes rivalries and a lot of divisional games (I know how one member of my panel feels about this) and all but eliminates ever seeing half the league. The NHL has been studying the schedule and is expected to make announcement about it in mid-February. So I just want to get out ahead of things.

I don’t watch hockey anymore although I used to be a “huge” fan. It is not enjoyable to me now, but I think a good kernel for a story would be hockey as the first sport that has had to contract salaries, etc., when the fans go south. I wish the fans would go south for all sports and bring these pampered idiots back to reality, as you are well aware, but hockey is the first to experience the contractions, as i see it.

When the Wings beat the Canadiens the other day, I wondered what had happened to the team that was so hot about a month ago.
I watched parts of their 4-0 loss to Vancouver in Montreal last night and the boo birds are beginning to appear.
I thought of Spector and what he must be feeling.
from Spector’s blog at Fox Sports,

And given how crappy Samsonov and Rivet have played of late, why would any GM in his right mind wanna trade for them? Sammy’s been an overpaid underachiever all season, while Rivet (an impending UFA this summer)simply hasn’t played up to his usual steady, under-rated standards over the past month.
It remains to be seen if Carbo’s moves will stimulate his charges into playing more spirited hockey, or if this will only send them swooning further.
Yes, I’m harsh in my critiques of the Canadiens because they’re my favourite team, this is my blog and I’ll be as harsh with them as I please.

They all coached Sid The Kid when he really was Sid The Kid.
Can you imagine being the man who agreed to coach the little guys, who are usually more adorable than talented as they take to the ice for the first time like baby turtles heading to the ocean, and one of the tykes is Sidney Crosby?
Paul Gallagher coached Crosby when he was five years old and wore No. 8 in Tim Bits hockey here. He coached Crosby again when he was in bantam.

They wear masks, but that can’t camouflage the fact they also are the faces of their respective franchises. And when Martin Brodeur stared at the other crease 178 feet away from him at the Meadowlands last night, this is what he saw when he spied Henrik Lundqvist:
“With the way things were really tough for Ricky [Mike Richter] his last couple of years and then the way the Rangers changed goaltenders right and left for a time after that, when I see Lundqvist I see stability, and I see someone who has the chance to be a star in this league, and I think that’s great,”...

About Kukla’s Korner

Kukla’s Korner is updated around the clock with the work of our own talented bloggers, plus links to the best hockey writing around the internet. We strive to bring you all the breaking hockey news as it happens.

The home page allows you to see the latest postings from every blog on the site. Subscribe here. For general inquiries and more, please contact us anytime.